Paul Scholes, the Ginger Prince of Manchester United, has retired after a career that spanned 17 years and 676 games. Never one that enjoyed interviews, Scholes let his football do the talking.
Scholes graduated to the United first team at the same time as David Beckham but their attitudes to life off the pitch could not be more different. He once said that his idea of the perfect day was to “train in the morning, pick up my children from school, play with them, have tea, put them to bed and then watch a bit of TV.”
The Ginger Prince
Unbelievable in the modern age of football where money rules all, Scholes has never had an agent to negotiate contract renewals. He has always been happy to sign on the dotted line if the offer was fair and allowed him to continue playing football at the club he loves.
He has been described as the best player of his generation by Zidane, Marcello Lippi and most recently Xavi who perhaps is the player who now plays most like Scholes at his best – pass, move, score, nothing fancy, just ruthless efficiency.
Here is a video that best describes the man – not in words, but in the poetry that oozed from his boots. In his career he scored 150 goals for Manchester United, many of them featured here. But it is in the second half of the clip that you will see why all at the club knew him simply as “SatNav”.
Paul Scholes. True footballing legend.
